GUESS WE’RE DOING THIS EARLY THIS YEAR. (Though, honestly, we never really stopped, did we?)
So. Let’s talk evacuation bags. This is specifically in relation to wildfires, but it can translate easily to other disasters.
A great resource is the Ready for Wildfire website. But I want to expand on their list just a little bit.
For your “grab and go we need to run in the next three minutes” bag you should have:
Snacks that you can just open and eat. More food if you have specific allergies and such that will make it difficult to eat at a shelter. At least a couple bottles of water. (Water is probably easier to just keep in your vehicle, if you have one, due to weight.)
A PAPER map marked with multiple evacuation routes. (Drive them ahead of time to get a feel for them.) Your phone could die or lose signal at any time. You need paper, and you need to know how to read it.
Prescriptions and other medications. Things like ibuprophen, tums, etc.. Some other general first aid supplies like bandaids and wound ointments are good to have as well. I also tossed one of my free C*VID tests in there this year.
Change of clothing. Try and have two if you can, one set of day clothes and one set of comfy night clothes. Plus several days worth of socks and underwear.
Extra glasses or contacts if you wear them.
An emergency creditcard and/or some cash.
Phone chargers including wall plugs. Even if cell towers go down/get overwhelmed your phone will still provide a flashlight, music, any documents you have saved on it, etc.
A jacket. Light or heavy, depending on the season at hand. Gloves and a hat if the current season is cold.
A battery powered radio with extra batteries or a crank/solar radio.
Pads/tampons if needed. Honestly, bring some even you personally don’t need them in case anyone else does.
Shampoo, conditioner, soap.
Copies of important documents.
Pet supplies including: Medications. Carriers. Leashes/harnesses. A few baggies and/or cans of food. A travel litterbox and a couple baggies of litter. Treats. A toy or two. Anti-stress sprays. Bowls.
A deck of cards. This isn’t really REQUIRED, but it is small and easy to tuck in so you can have something to help pass the time.
You need to have a version of all these things that is JUST for your emergency kit. It can’t be something you take back out to use, it all needs to just live in the kit. I keep all my human stuff in a big backpack, and all the pet stuff (minus the carriers) is in a little backpack. The backpacks and carriers all live in my coat closet right next to my front door.
This is the stuff you grab when you have no time. If you DO have a little time, then you can grab other things like family photos, computers, small valuables, etc.. But your life is NOT worth those things. One of the two people who died in the Marshall Fire died because he stayed behind to try and rescue his family history documents. Know what you’re going to grab, who is going to grab what if there’s more than you in your household, and what the evacuation plan is.
From my personal experience, the Twitter accounts for your local fire departments and county emergency services tend to have the most up-to-date information during an active disaster. Stay safe.
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